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[Overwatch] Ashe is now Live!

Overwatch is Blizzard's first person shooter that launched in 2016 for PC PS4, and Xbox one. Overwatch launched with 21 Heroes and have added 7 since.

Since its launch, OW has been the center of attention of Esports and casuals alike. Sporting built in ranked play, players have participated in competitive leagues on many levels. On goers from across the world have watched professional tournaments take place on Blizzcon, Blizzard Entertainment's yearly convention.

A new hero, the shotgun wielding southerner Ashe has been added to the game.

I'm excited for expansion. I only worry that they're expanding way too fast. Eight new teams in one season?! I guess it's sort of expected when the league is brand new, but... that's a lot of new teams.

Also they need to fix Hamzo, he's still running riot and becoming as ridiculous as Mercy 2.0. Either actually fix the netcode so he's not getting benefit of the doubt with firing tree logs or remove crit shots from spam arrow.

Also they need to fix Hamzo, he's still running riot and becoming as ridiculous as Mercy 2.0. Either actually fix the netcode so he's not getting benefit of the doubt with firing tree logs or remove crit shots from spam arrow.

Those chinese teams feel like lambs going to the slaughter if Shanghai was any indication.

Pretty much everyone agrees that even if you wanted to build an all-Chinese team, Shanghai didn't pick the best players possible. Now that the Dragons have dumped nearly their entire roster, it's pretty clear they've learned their lesson and I doubt the others will follow in their footsteps. Hopefully this means we'll see them all be a little more competitive (although I'd still be surprised to see them near the top of the heap next season).

Also they need to fix Hamzo, he's still running riot and becoming as ridiculous as Mercy 2.0. Either actually fix the netcode so he's not getting benefit of the doubt with firing tree logs or remove crit shots from spam arrow.

For the record, he actually has the smallest projectiles in the game. Meanwhile, Zen has the biggest (balls).

I'm excited for expansion. I only worry that they're expanding way too fast. Eight new teams in one season?! I guess it's sort of expected when the league is brand new, but... that's a lot of new teams.

Well last I heard they're halving the number of games each team plays, so they need to pick up the slack. It seems to me they're pushing the esports too hard and, as much as I enjoy playing the game, Overwatch isn't even a good esport, but IDK. I'm not the multi-billion dollar corporation

Maybe it's just the spectator mode or the camera work but it's really dry watching Overwatch on a professional level. It could also be the highly optimized meta without many interesting working strategies.

E-Sports casters usually sort of pop up organically and here it feels so forced. I watched maybe 3 games and felt done with the season. Alternatively I can always turn on a Beyond the Summit re-stream and be interested for a little bit and I haven't played DOTA 2 in 4 years.

Yeah less games per team, but more games overall. I think it's a good move, adds a little more importance to each matchup, and hopefully increases the standard of play even higher, while reducing player burnout.

A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.

Maybe it's just the spectator mode or the camera work but it's really dry watching Overwatch on a professional level. It could also be the highly optimized meta without many interesting working strategies.

E-Sports casters usually sort of pop up organically and here it feels so forced. I watched maybe 3 games and felt done with the season. Alternatively I can always turn on a Beyond the Summit re-stream and be interested for a little bit and I haven't played DOTA 2 in 4 years.

I'm not sure what part of the season you watched, but there were a lot more viable comps by the end of the season, and assuming things stay mostly the same by the time next season rolls around, we're in arguably the most varied meta the game has ever seen.

As far as the casters go, it doesn't seem any more forced than other sports, but I also don't really watch any other esports (DOTA for example is completely inscrutable and uninteresting to me) so I can't really say much there.

That being said, if it's not your thing it's not your thing. As a big fan of the game itself, I thought the first season of OWL was pretty kickass overall and am definitely looking forward to season 2.

I’m still under rank 25. Hit 21 last night. I’ll be jumping into comp as soon as I hit 25.

I had my history of zero experience (and thus confidence and ability!) with multiplayer shooters, so I mained Mercy for at least the first two seasons with a bit of tank flex here and there. I never pulled my Tracer in comp until, one day in like season 3, I was the Mercy who watched her team split up and die repeatedly on Lijiang (back when control maps were best of five), and the entire team switched to DPS. I went from 0 elims to silver - our Soldier who'd been Soldier all game got 56 elims, and I got silver with 49 by playing as Tracer for the last 3 rounds.

It took a disaster for me to even try DPS as a desperation move, and discover I could actually get work done in comp with her.

What I'm sayin' is, don't wait for a disaster match to see if playing DPS is an effective path to victory. Might be that's what you're best at.

I play DPS and Tank pretty regularly. My problem is a lot of the DPS characters don't do it for me. I either don't enjoy playing them or I suck at playing them. Any that use melee are just out - I hate melee from first person. I like Soldier though, probably because like I said before, he's like playing a normal military FPS. At some point I'll probably pick one and learn it. Both Symmetra and Pharah look fun.

I’m still under rank 25. Hit 21 last night. I’ll be jumping into comp as soon as I hit 25.

I had my history of zero experience (and thus confidence and ability!) with multiplayer shooters, so I mained Mercy for at least the first two seasons with a bit of tank flex here and there. I never pulled my Tracer in comp until, one day in like season 3, I was the Mercy who watched her team split up and die repeatedly on Lijiang (back when control maps were best of five), and the entire team switched to DPS. I went from 0 elims to silver - our Soldier who'd been Soldier all game got 56 elims, and I got silver with 49 by playing as Tracer for the last 3 rounds.

It took a disaster for me to even try DPS as a desperation move, and discover I could actually get work done in comp with her.

What I'm sayin' is, don't wait for a disaster match to see if playing DPS is an effective path to victory. Might be that's what you're best at.

I play DPS and Tank pretty regularly. My problem is a lot of the DPS characters don't do it for me. I either don't enjoy playing them or I suck at playing them. Any that use melee are just out - I hate melee from first person. I like Soldier though, probably because like I said before, he's like playing a normal military FPS. At some point I'll probably pick one and learn it. Both Symmetra and Pharah look fun.

Pharah can do tons of work up to the highest SR ^.^ NuSym needs a lot of coordination to really shine, but she can still get stuff done solo - she just becomes super-strong with tele coordination.

I’m still under rank 25. Hit 21 last night. I’ll be jumping into comp as soon as I hit 25.

I had my history of zero experience (and thus confidence and ability!) with multiplayer shooters, so I mained Mercy for at least the first two seasons with a bit of tank flex here and there. I never pulled my Tracer in comp until, one day in like season 3, I was the Mercy who watched her team split up and die repeatedly on Lijiang (back when control maps were best of five), and the entire team switched to DPS. I went from 0 elims to silver - our Soldier who'd been Soldier all game got 56 elims, and I got silver with 49 by playing as Tracer for the last 3 rounds.

It took a disaster for me to even try DPS as a desperation move, and discover I could actually get work done in comp with her.

What I'm sayin' is, don't wait for a disaster match to see if playing DPS is an effective path to victory. Might be that's what you're best at.

I play DPS and Tank pretty regularly. My problem is a lot of the DPS characters don't do it for me. I either don't enjoy playing them or I suck at playing them. Any that use melee are just out - I hate melee from first person. I like Soldier though, probably because like I said before, he's like playing a normal military FPS. At some point I'll probably pick one and learn it. Both Symmetra and Pharah look fun.

Pharah can do tons of work up to the highest SR ^.^ NuSym needs a lot of coordination to really shine, but she can still get stuff done solo - she just becomes super-strong with tele coordination.

The few times I've played Pharah I've enjoyed it. Between D'Va, Mercy and Pharah, I guess I like flying?

pharah's definitely fun, i only play her once in a while every here and there now just cos i'm more comfortable/experienced with my tank and support roster, but she was the first 'main' i had back when i first got the game

I’m still under rank 25. Hit 21 last night. I’ll be jumping into comp as soon as I hit 25.

I had my history of zero experience (and thus confidence and ability!) with multiplayer shooters, so I mained Mercy for at least the first two seasons with a bit of tank flex here and there. I never pulled my Tracer in comp until, one day in like season 3, I was the Mercy who watched her team split up and die repeatedly on Lijiang (back when control maps were best of five), and the entire team switched to DPS. I went from 0 elims to silver - our Soldier who'd been Soldier all game got 56 elims, and I got silver with 49 by playing as Tracer for the last 3 rounds.

It took a disaster for me to even try DPS as a desperation move, and discover I could actually get work done in comp with her.

What I'm sayin' is, don't wait for a disaster match to see if playing DPS is an effective path to victory. Might be that's what you're best at.

I play DPS and Tank pretty regularly. My problem is a lot of the DPS characters don't do it for me. I either don't enjoy playing them or I suck at playing them. Any that use melee are just out - I hate melee from first person. I like Soldier though, probably because like I said before, he's like playing a normal military FPS. At some point I'll probably pick one and learn it. Both Symmetra and Pharah look fun.

Pharah can do tons of work up to the highest SR ^.^ NuSym needs a lot of coordination to really shine, but she can still get stuff done solo - she just becomes super-strong with tele coordination.

The few times I've played Pharah I've enjoyed it. Between D'Va, Mercy and Pharah, I guess I like flying?

Guess you've found your main hero in every slot. Congrats!

Btw, my three faves are Doomfist, Wrecking Ball and Lucio, and you just helped me realise something...

Guess I’ll get another copy and do some competitive calibration. Who’s with me?

Question -- should I get a _first_ copy? I know this thread is probably pretty much pro-Overwatch, but I don't know if it makes sense for me.

I have basic competence at FPS's (beat the serious sam's, dooms, the recent wolfensteins, borderlands, etc, though only on 'normal'), but I have fairly limited gameplaying time these days so I'm not going to get to any sort of competitive-against-other-people level any time soon, and I don't have the time to commit to playing with a group so I'm a bit wary of a game that seems to be team-based. Is it still worth trying to play with this much of a casual approach? (both as far as 'will I enjoy it', and 'will I annoy other people online by not being any good'?)

Very likely, yes - but anyone familiar with Overwatch forums knows that being infuriated by one's teammates is an integral part of the experience, and you'd be an important part of that.

For my part, I stuck exclusively to no-aim-required heroes while I learned the maps and did my best to help, and went on zany tangents with DPS heroes when I felt like everyone else on my team was as clueless as I was.

Had some great games today. One on Hollywood where I went 0 deaths, 4K heal and got a 5 person killstreak as well.

Another where I was dropped in with 5 totally new players, all rank 1-2. Guessing they got it from this months Humble. First of three games we got hammered. Next round I just gave them the advice of taking the objective and not spreading out.

They actually listened and we took the objective and held it to 75%, then wiped.i retreated to spawn and when they all came out I told them to group up and push as a team. Popped Valkyrie and we retook the objective for the win. Third game was much the same but they couldn’t get coordinated near the end, and had a real close loss.

I (kinda) know the feeling. After a night of really shitty losses, when my OW buddies had gone to sleep and I should have too, I said "Fuck it, I'm going to play Doomfist and do dumb aggressive shit like all these other dumb dps players who constantly feed and yet inexplicably have the same rank as me and I'll see what happens.

Well, I won 7 games in a row, and the winning only stopped when I absolutely had to go to sleep. I still don't know what all of that means. It could be that Doomfist is a really good hero to make bad decisions with. I'm not sure.

During the environmental disturbances of the early aughts, researchers determined that maintaining a proper standard of living (or, y'know, a functioning food pipeline at all) would require that natural pollinators be augmented or, if necessary, replaced entirely with Omnic substitutes. During the Omnic Crisis, these small insectoid robots were imbued with a collective consciousness. Now they roam the earth, seeking to become the dominant form of life by any means necessary.

The Swarm has a roughly Roadhog-sized hitbox comprised of a frothing mass of robot bees. Its central hive is barely visible from the front, and the opening in the middle serves as the character's critbox.

Primary Fire: Harvester
- Shoots out slow-moving drones to attack enemies.
- Target is decided by picking from random visible enemies in the direction of fire.
- Each drone homes in on the enemy by flying in a straight line.
- If the drone collides with a surface, it returns to the Swarm having accomplished nothing.
- Each drone deals a minuscule amount of damage on impact.
- Each drone that successfully causes damage returns to the Swarm and restores an equally minuscule amount of HP.

Secondary Fire: Ally Cover
- Click and hold to distribute drones to allies within 15 meters.
- Defense drones form a shield around covered allies.
- Damage to shielded allies is reduced by 20%.
- Each time damage is reduced, Swarm loses HP equal to the reduction in damage.
- This loss of HP by Swarm does not count as damage inflicted by the enemy.

E Skill: Dragnet
- Shoots out a ball comprised of drones to form a photonic web at the point of impact.
- Enemies in the area of effect are slowed to half speed for 3 seconds.
- Cools down in 8-10 seconds.
- Alternative cooldown: cools down in 3 seconds, but costs 50 HP each use.

Ultimate Skill: Solar Cannon
- Locks aim and charges for about half a second, then fires a laser a bit narrower than Coalescence lasting about a second and a half.
- Damage is enough to kill a squishy if they remain in the beam for its full duration.
- Like Tracer's Pulse Bomb, a weak but very rapidly-charging Ultimate. Intended for use in combination with Dragnet as Swarm's primary means of inflicting spike damage.

"Hm, the Dva challenge ends in a few days; it's only 8 more wins to get all the rewards. I should play some quickplay; I wonder why I haven't in a while."
*Game crashes the windows desktop upon opening*
*Game loads no models or HUD for the first minute of the match*
*Match involves nobody wanting to play healers or tank, most people leave halfway through, we lose before even touching the first point*
*I get a meaningless Sportsmanship commendation despite pessimistic on the end screen*
"Oh right. That's why."

Having teenaged RPG leads is really cool until you stop being a teenager yourself. Do you remember being seventeen? You're a dumbass at seventeen! I wanna be saved by the guy who's twenty-seven. He's at least payed taxes. He knows how to do shit. He can drive.

I kinda' wonder if folks feelings about Overwatch would improve if they played it on console. Don't get me wrong, we have the occasional troll or 12 year old or toxic douche in voice, but I really get the sense that the overall experience is more pleasant than on PC.